Growing Up | 1918-1925

1918, December 11Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is born in Kislovodsk, Russia to Isaakii Semenovich Solzhenitsyn and Taisiya Zakharovna Shcherbak. Issaaki, a decorated soldier in World War I, is injured in a hunting accident and dies of blood poisoning shortly before his son is born.

1921 Taisija Zakharovna, leaving her son in the care of family, goes to take typewriting and stenography courses; finds work in Rostov-on-Don.

1921, DecemberFirst childhood memory: during church service, Chekists (secret police) burst in on the altar and, having torn up the liturgy, seize church valuables for “the victims of famine”.

1924-1925, WinterLives with his mother in Rostov

1925, SummerLives in Gul’kevichakh, at his uncle’s farm, along with his grandfather and grandmother.

1925, late FallTaisija Zakharovna takes her son to Rostov.

School Days | 1927-1936

1927, 9 NovemberEnters the second class of the Rostov high school, № 15.

1943, 23 JulyFurious assault on Orel; for successful and rapid preparation of the individual unit, as well as skilled direction in exposing the groupings of the enemy artillery, commander BZR-2 Solzhenitsyn is recommended for the award – order of the Patriotic War II nd degree.

1943, September 15By order of the Commander of the Army Solzhenitsyn is awarded the title of first lieutenant.

1944, 18 JanuarySolzhenitsyn’s mother dies.

1944, April 9-10Wrote a long letter to school friend Vitkevich, which was intercepted by the military censor. Beginning of surveillance.

1944, Approx. April 20Solzhenitsyn learns of the death of his mother.

1944, May 7Awarded the rank of captain.

1944, July 12 Awarded the Order of the Red Star.

1945, January 30 The Deputy Attorney General of the RSFSR, Major General Vavilov authorizes the arrest of Solzhenitsyn.

1945, February 1For saving the battery and equipment (operation of January 27) Solzhenitsyn is presented the Order of the "Red Flag."

1945, February 9Solzhenitsyn is arrested by Army SMERSH counterintelligence in East Prussia, near the town of Vormdit.

Gulag | 1945-1952

1945, FebruaryHeld in solitary confinement.

1945, May 9By the forty-gun salute heard in his cell, he guesses that the war is over.

1945, July 7Condemned to 8 years in a labor camp.

1945, AugustTransferred to the transit prison in Krasnaya Presnya. Works as a clay quarry shift foreman, trolley hauler, clay miner.

1945, September 9Moved to Moscow, to the construction camp at the Bol’shaya Kaluga, 30.

1946, September 27Transferred to special prison of Rybinsk, Yaroslavl region to work in the aviation sharashka. Sharashkas were secret research and development laboratories that were part of the Gulag system. Scientists and researchers sent to prison would be forced to do research for the government in these facilities.

1946, November 6Wrote (orally, by memory) the poem "Memories of Butyrskaya Prison."

1947, February 21Transferred from Rybinsk to Moscow ("Third Butyrka").

1947, JuneMakes a request to the Prosecutor General of the USSR for reconsideration of his case.

1947, SummerTransferred to the sharashka in Moscow (Marfino) and appointed librarian.

1950, AutumnWorked in construction of the Disciplinary Barracks as a bricklayer; composing poems.

1950-1951, WinterThe idea for the story of one day of a zek (prisoner) arises.

1951, SummerBecomes a machine shop foreman.

1952, January 29Referred to the medical unit due to sharply increased advanced tumor in the groin and transferred to the camp hospital.

1955Teaches at Kok-Terek school and writes the novel The First Circle.

1955, SeptemberSolzhenitsyn writes a petition to NS. Khrushchev on removal of restrictions on movement.

1956, AprilLifting of exile

1956, May 5Receives a general citizen’s passport.

1956, June 20Leaves Kok-Terek for Moscow.

1956, August 24Appointed as a teacher in Mezinovsky high school in the Kurlovsky region of the Vladimir district. Here he rents a room from a widow named Matryona, brought to life in his short story, "Matryona’s Home".

1956, AutumnThe first version of the novel The First Circle completed.

His Writings | 1957-1975

1957, August 25Hired as a teacher of physics and astronomy at the school № 2 in Ryazan.

1958, April Undergoes a course of chemotherapy in the Ryazan cancer clinic.

1958, SpringCycling trip in the Ryazan region, has the idea of The Gulag Archipelago

1958, JulyA trip to Leningrad (collection of materials for the future The Red Wheel).

1959, May 18In the course of 45 days, wrote a short story, "One Day of a Prisoner," which will become One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.

1960, Late Autumn Takes chemotherapy at home.

1961, DecemberSigns contract with Novy Mir for "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich".

1962, 15 SeptemberThe tale "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" is approved by Khrushchev.

1962, November 17Novy Mir issue containing "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" goes to subscribers. Soon after it is translated and published in the west. He becomes famous in the USSR and throughout the world.

1962, December 23Pravda prints an excerpt from the story "The Incident at Kochetovka Station."

1966-1967Works on Cancer Ward and other works. The political climate in the Soviet Union changes and once again Solzhenitsyn has difficulties getting his writing published. In December 1967, printing is stopped on “Cancer Ward.” No more works by Solzhenitsyn would be published in the USSR until 1990.

1968, Mid-AprilChapters of Cancer Ward are printed in the West.

1968, June 8A microfilm with The Gulag Archipelago is sent to the West.

1971, August 9Sudden illness in Novocherkassk. While standing in a store, KGB agents managed to rub a poison on his skin without his being aware of it. Based on his symptoms, it is thought that the poison was ricin, which is highly toxic and often results in death.

1971, OctoberRecovery, return to work on October 1916.

1972, March 30A new draft of decree is compiled, depriving Solzhenitsyn of citizenship and deporting him. Gives interview to The New York Times and Washington Post.

1972, September 23Son Ignat is born.

1973, SummerSolzhenitsyn family settles in a rented dacha in Firsanovka where they receive anonymous threatening letters. Writes an article, entitled "Peace and Violence."

1973, August 30In the middle of the night, State Security seizes copy of The Gulag Archipelago. The holder of the manuscript, Elizaveta Voronyanskaya, commits suicide.

1973, End of AugustFinishes appeal, "Live Not by Lies!", created in 1972-1973.

1973, September 8Son Stephan is born.

1973, December 28In Paris, the first volume of The Gulag Archipelago comes out in Russian.

1974, January 4The beginning of persecution of Solzhenitsyn in connection with the release of The Gulag Archipelago.

1974, JanuaryAnnounces the signing over of the world-wide royalties of The Gulag Archipelago to Soviet political prisoners. Finishes article, "Remorse and Self-restraint."

1974, After February 2Secret negotiations of the KGB with the Germans to expel Solzhenitsyn to Germany.

1974, February 12Arrested at his apartment and taken to jail in Lefortovo.

1974, February 13Procedure of expulsion, Solzhenitsyn driven to Sheremetevo Airport and flown to Frankfurt, Germany. In Moscow, the appeal, "Live Not by Lies!" comes out in samizdat.

1974, February 15Moves to Zurich

1974, March 29Solzhenitsyn family leave from Moscow for Zurich.

1974, June 24Solzhenitsyn and his family receive Swiss passports.

1974, 6-13 DecemberGoes to Sweden to receive his Nobel Prize.

1975, April 28Flies to Canada in search of place to live.

1975, June 30Speech in Washington to representatives of U.S. trade unions

1975, July 15Speech to the U.S. Congress.

1975, October 31 Purchases land with a house in Cavendish (Vermont).

1975, End of DecemberThe French magazine, Puen declares Solzhenitsyn "Man of the Year."

Vermont | 1976-1994

1976, July 3Enters the United States as a resident

1976, From mid-June to late JulyWorks in pond house in Vermont, writes Stolypin-Bogrovsky cycle.

1976, July 30The family moves from Switzerland to Vermont.

The following comments were made by Cavendish residents about their new neighbor:

“We’re no damn fools. We know who’s moving up there, no matter what the Vinogradov fella says,” - Quentin Phelan, Cavendish Town Manager.

“It’s the only fence around here like that,” said Myrtle Cady, whose family once owned the property. “Some folks think that there’s no need for fences, that all you need to do is post your property and people will stay out.”

The people of Cavendish want the man left alone. “I think he’s a very remarkable man and should have his privacy,” Postmaster Sophie Snarski said. "The locals have shown they are willing to respect his privacy and we hope he will consider this. They didn’t betray his secret. It took a newspaper report in Switzerland, followed by broadcasts over Radio Free Europe to tell the world something the people of Cavendish have known and protected for months."

1977, February 28Speech to his neighbors at the Cavendish Town Meeting and asks for their support in helping to preserve his privacy.

1978, January 1Natalyia Solzhenitsyn is interviewed on Vermont Public Radio. She is manager of a fund established by her husband to aid refugees seeking to leave Russia. She spends much of her time seeking money for the fund.

1978, June 8Speech at Harvard University upon receiving an honorary doctoral degree, will be published as “A World Split Apart.”

1980, SpringThe Anglo-American edition of Oak and the Calf is published. Publishes an article, "How a Poor Understanding of Russia Endangers America” for the journal “Foreign Affairs.”

1980, Throughout the yearWork on October 1916 and March 1917; revised and expanded edition of The Gulag Archipelago was published (Collected Works, Volume 5, 6, 7).

1980-1983Writes overview chapters, "Reflections on the February Revolution."

1981, NovemberNovember edition of the Saturday Evening Post publishes "Solzhenitsyn: His Courage with Cancer":"The famous Russian author Maintains it was his dedication to writing that cured him of cancer 30 years ago. He’s convinced that to continue to live he must write. To him, living and writing are inseparable. … In the writing center he has established in the Vermont countryside, Solzhenitsyn, surrounded by friends, family and the latest in word processing devices, considers himself self-sufficient. It is the perfect spot from which to wage his campaign against Soviet Communism and to, as he told New York Times art critic Hilton Kramer in a 1980 interview, “race against time.”

1982, January 15 The French magazine Express publishes an article The Main Lesson.

1982, FebruaryAfter three years of negotiations, Solzhenitsyn allows a Life magazine reporter and photographer into their home and retreat.

1982, March 20Article "Solzhenitsyn: Vermont’s Mystery Man" published in Boston Globe "Solzhenitsyn’s desire to write as much as he can about Russian history in the era of the 1917 Revolution leave shim little time for leisure activities. In the summer he occasionally plays tennis he had built on his property. He cuts wood with his boys in the winter, and listens to music while reading in the evenings. Friends, often from Europe and members of the Russian émigré community pay frequent visits to the Solzhenitsyn residence. …He reads-in English as well as Russian-journals, newspapers, correspondence and books, to keep abreast of international political and cultural events."

1982, MaySolzhenitsyn declines White House dinner where President Reagan offers “moral support” to Russian dissidents seeking to improve human rights in the Soviet Union. Solzhenitsyn sends the President a letter, which he releases to the press. In it he wrote, "During the past months indirect inquiries reached me through different channels concerning the circumstances under which I would accept and invitation to the White House. I always answered that I would be prepared to go for a substantive conversation with you, in a setting which would make an effective, in-depth exchange of views possible, but not for a merely formal ceremony. The life span at my disposal does not leave any time for symbolic encounters."

1983, May 7-12Receives the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion and meets with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Established by Sir John M. Templeton, it is religion’s equivalent to the Nobel Peace Prize. From the prize's website:"The Templeton Prize honors a living person who has made an exceptional contribution to affirming life’s spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery, or practical works. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s struggle for open expression made him one of the world’s most respected men. Under the repressive Soviet regime, he held firm in his beliefs and shared his worldview through powerful writings and devastating critiques of Russian Communism. His works renewed vitality in the Orthodox tradition and evidenced a profound spirituality."

1983, AugustVermont Life magazine publishes an interview with the Solzhenitsyn family that was granted at the request of Governor Richard Snelling:"The picture that emerged was of a typical American family; a basketball hoop over the garage, a well-tended vegetable garden, a dog and two cats. this was a close knit family, drawn together by Solzhenitsyn’s overriding mission-to set down in writing a historical record of Russian history in the 20th century."

In the article Solzhenitsyn shares:"We have grown to like Vermont very much, and we wouldn’t leave this for any other place but Russia, if it ever becomes free. In any case, if Russia does not, we will be buried in Vermont."

1983, DecemberSolzhenitsyn opened his Vermont compound to French television cameras for an exclusive interview."Here in Vermont, for the first time in my life, I have the perfect conditions to work. I have privacy and isolation, I enjoy a marvelous relationship with American libraries with rich Russian collections and archives. And I do not have the KGB looking over my shoulders. The only thing missing is my fatherland." Associated Press

1984, February 13The 10th anniversary of exile from Russia.

1984, March 3The killing of a woman of Russian descent in Pittsfield prompts Solzhenitsyn to urge Americans not to equate Russian-Americans with Soviet communists. Solzhenitsyn’s letter is in reply to a request for help from the father of Tania Zelensky, a 31-year-old woman officials say was shot by a man who believed she was a Russian spy.

1984, May 24Receives a standing ovation after receiving an honorary doctor of humane letters degree during Holy Cross College's commencement. The college president, Rev. John Brooks, proclaimed of Solzhenitsyn, "In an age in which authentic courage is rare, your writings and your life have transmitted strength to all who share your dedication to the truth". (Associated Press)

1985, FebruaryBeginning of persecution of Solzhenitsyn in the American press in connection with the novel August 1914.

1985, March 29A hearing of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Senate of the United States is convened in connection with the "Solzhenitsyn affair”.

1985, MayFiles applications for US citizenship in St. Albans, VT

1985, June 24His wife, children and mother-in-law become American citizens. Solzhenitsyn does not attend due to ill health.

1985, November 14The expanded version of August 1914 containing a new section on the assassination of a Russian prime minister by an anarchist Jew has touched off a controversy as to whether Solzhenitsyn is anti-Semitic. Many prominent Jews and scholars come to his defense.

1986, AutumnReceives treatment for skin cancer.

1986, November 1850th Anniversary of The Red Wheel from the date of conception.

1986, The end of the yearTwo volumes of March 1917 are published in Russian (Collected Works, Volumes 15 and 16).

1987, WinterBegins work on sketches from Literary Collections.

1987, MarchA Danish newspaper reports that Cancer Ward will be published in the Soviet Union, which had been banned as it was critical of the Soviet system under Stalin. Solzhenitsyn and his wife attend a concert by their son Ignat. In a post concert interview, Mrs. Solzhenitsyn says the reports of Cancer Ward’s publication are false.

1987, SpringWrites chapters 9 and 10 of Sketches of Exile.

1987, June-JulyWrites chapters 11, 12, 13 of Sketches of Exile.

1988, JulyIn an interview with the Associated Press, Natalia Solzhenitsyn denies reports that Kremlin officials had contacted her husband with offers to publish his novels in the Soviet Union and invite him back to the land from which he was exiled 14 years ago.

1988, SeptemberSolzhenitsyn declines an invitation to join a Soviet committee responsible for building a memorial to Stalin’s victims. In a telegram to the organizing committee, he said it was impossible to ignore the treason charge, which has never been withdrawn. He also notes that he had already created a memorial to the victims of the Kremlin repression in his book The Gulag Archipelago, which was published in the West in 1974 but banned by the Soviet authorities.

1988, NovemberKremlin ideologist say Solzhenitsyn to remain on the Soviet Union’s “blacklist of forbidden writers saying that “to publish Solzhenitsyn’s work is to undermine the foundations on which our present life rests.”

1988, December 11Solzhenitsyn turns 70. More than 1,400 people in Moscow attended a ceremony honoring him at the House of Cinema

1989, July 20Article appears in the Rutland Herald about Joe Allen, owner of the Cavendish General Store and his sign “No restrooms, no bare feet, no directions to the Solzhenitsyn’s”.

Allen said that he has never met Solzhenitsyn and wouldn’t know if he ‘fell out of a tree and on top of me.’ He doesn’t share the same desire to meet the author as the people he has turned away.

1989, AugustFifteen years after being banished from the Soviet Union and from its press, the magazine Novy Mir, publishes the first chapters of The Gulag Archipelago.

1989, DecemberOfficials in Moscow say Solzhenitsyn could regain Soviet citizenship by simply filing an application. Solzhenitsyn says he will not return until all his works-including Gulag and the cycle of books called The Red Wheel, which Communist Party officials have called particularly offensive, are published.

1990In the Soviet Union, several literary journals declare 1990 as the “Year of Solzhenitsyn,” and his works are reprinted, serialized and published widely.

1990, Spring-SummerWrites paper "How Can We Improve Russia?"

1990, AugustThe Associated Press announces that President Mikhail S. Gorbachev has restored the citizenship of Solzhenitsyn along with an undetermined number of exiles. Natalia Solzhenitsyn vehemently denies claims. She reiterated that her husband’s return to his homeland is contingent upon the government formally dropping its charge of treason against him, and the publication and widespread circulation of his major works. Rutland Herald, 8/17/90

1990, September 18Komsomolskaya Pravda and Literaturnaya Gazeta publish his article, "How Can We Improve Russia?"

1990, December 11Refuses State Prize for The Gulag Archipelago.

1991, JuneSolzhenitsyn receives an honorary degree from Dartmouth- “our Vermont neighbor who spends a great deal of time using Baker Library.”

1991, SeptemberAs reported in the Eagle Times (9/15/91), at the Cavendish Bicentennial Parade Solzhenitsyn says, “We'll definitely return back home to Russia. I said a long time ago that I definitely will return and that stays intact. I’m not going to live here forever.”

1991, DecemberGorbachev has handed the KGB file of Solzhenitsyn over to his Soviet publisher. Tass says the author intends to take up permanent residence in Russia.

1992, AprilTop Secret reveals that KGB agents secretly poisoned Solzhenitsyn at a department store candy counter in a bungled 1971 assassination attempt that left him with serious burns. On the incident, Solzhenitsyn said, “At last it is an explanation of something I could not understand at the time-where this sudden malady has come from.” Associated Press 4/21/92

1992, MayNatalia Solzhenitsyn returns to Moscow after 18 years in exile and promised her husband would return soon. “He surely will come back. He think-and I think he is right-that it’s going to be the very last move of his life, and it should be well prepared.” New York Times 5/23/92

1992, JuneBoris Yeltsin shortly after arriving in Washington for a summit meeting with President Bush, telephones Solzhenitsyn. In a 30-minute conversation, they discussed their shared “pain for Russia.”

1993, January 19Awarded the American Literary Award of the National Arts Club; gives a speech “Playing Upon the Strings of Emptiness”.

1993, MayThe Associated Press reports a brick house is being built on about 10 acres of land in a resort area outside of Moscow, Troitse-Lykovo.

1993, September-OctoberFarewell trip though Europe before return to Russia.

1994, February 14As Russians anxiously await the return of Solzhenitsyn, Cavendish says goodbye. An article in the New Yorker magazine shows that Solzhenitsyn has been doing exactly what he said he was doing-He works seven days a week, waking at six, taking a lunch break and working late into the evening.

1994, February 28Solzhenitsyn gives a farewell speech at Cavendish Town Meeting.

1994, April 16At the Vermont House, records last interview in the West with Paul Khlebnikov of Forbes magazine.

1994, May 25Solzhenitsyn and his wife and his son Stephan fly from the U.S. to Russia.

Returning Home | 1998-2008

1994, JuneThe “No Direction to Solzhenitsyn” sign is removed from the Cavendish General Store.

1990, May 27 - July 20Trip around Russia

1990, July 21Arrival in Moscow; speech at the Yaroslavl station.

1990, September 20Presentation at the University of Rostov.

1990, November 16Meeting with the President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin.

1990, DecemberBegins conducting a series of programs on Public Russian television.

1990, Throughout the year Writes the stories, "Ego" and "Apricot Jam."

1995Rebuilding Russia: Reflections and Tentative Proposals and The Russian Question at the End of the Twentieth Century (including “Address to the International Academy of Philosophy”) published. Awarded Brancato Literary Prize.

1996Publishes the story "At the Turns". Solzhenitsyn gives collection of memoirs of the Russian emigration to the Russian Abroad Library-Foundation. Writes "The Current State of Russia."

1996-1999Writes new "Miniatures,” or prose poems.

1997, SpringSuffers a heart attack.

1997, JuneElected member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

1997, AugustWrites "The Hypocrisy at the End of the Twentieth Century."

1997, October 21Russian Community Public Foundation announces the establishment of the Alexander Solzhenitsyn Literary Award.

1997-2004Novy Mir publishes "Literary Collection" series of essays.

1998, May 7The first presentation of the Alexander Solzhenitsyn Literary Award.

1998, DecemberIn connection with the 80th anniversary of the Russian Orthodox Church, awarded the Order of St. Prince Daniel of Moscow, and the highest state award - the Order of St. Andrew.

1998, December 11In the Taganka theater on his birthday for the play, “Camps”; Solzhenitsyn accepts Church order and refuses to accept State Order in view of the poverty and misery that has befallen the country.

1998, Throughout the yearWrites story "Zhelyabugskie Settlement" and the novel Adliga Shvenkitten.

1998-2003Novy Mir publishes "Sketches of Exile" ("The Little Seed Managed to Fall Between Two Millstones”). Publishes "200 Years Together", about the difficult topic of Russian-Jewish interaction in the 18th-20th centuries.

1999, June 2Having been awarded the Grand Gold Medal of the MV University in 1998, the highest award of the RAS; he gives a response speech on "Science in the Pirate State."

2000, December 13At the residence of the French ambassador, he is awarded the Grand Prize of the French Academy of Moral and Political Sciences. Solzhenitsyn gave a response speech titled "Rebirth of Humanism."

2001, JuneThe book Two Hundred Years Together (v. 1) is published.

2002, December 24Suffers a severe hypertensive crisis.

2003, Winter-SpringReceives treatment from the effects of hypertensive crisis.

2003-2008Gives periodic interviews in the press, continues to write and publish short works. Makes edits to his works, creating definitive editions.

2004, 16 NovemberAt Trinity Lykov, he is awarded the Order of St. Sava first degree – the highest award of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

2006, January and FebruaryPresentation of the G. Panfilov series based on the novel The First Circle on the channel "Russia".

2006, November 16Publication of Volume 1, 7 and 8 of the Collected Works in thirty volumes.

2007, FebruaryUndergoes surgery on his carotid artery.

2007, June 12Ceremony in the Kremlin presenting state awards of the Russian Federation "for outstanding achievements in the field of humanitarian action."